I needed to snarl this morning, on why "health care" is divided up into four classes, three of which are apparently much lesser than the others for no apparent reason. You can check it out on Daily Kos.
"Mental health parity" was included in the health care reform act. As of this year, mental health services are covered by insurance on an equal basis. For me at least, this means psychologist and psychiatrist visits are still considered specialist visits with a higher copay but they can't limit the reasons I go to see those doctors. Previously, I could only get reimbursed for some codes when it came to the psychiatrist; medication adjustment was the big one, don't remember the full details. (My copays for my psych medications are also lower but I have a feeling that's a different animal.)
On another subject, please don't compare the level of torment one mentally ill person goes through to another. Just as people have different physical pain tolerances, different things cause different people to break and to do it to different degrees. There are also different ways to suffer, just as a toothache's different from a cramp. Having a form of bipolar disorder, for me, tends to hurt or numb me. When the insomnia messes with my sleep cycle, though, not being sure what memories happened in a dream is terrifying. On a bigger scale, lumping together the effects of all brain-centric illnesses is painting with a very wide brush.
Likewise, labeling Jared Loughner as undoubtedly mentally ill (which I assume he is, considering how out of touch with reality he seems to have been) and going no further does a disservice. There are people out there who believe that mentally ill equals potentially violent, when the vast majority of people who have mental illnesses are not a physical threat to anyone except perhaps themselves. Blurring the categories contributes to the fear born out of ignorance that keeps mental illness a second class form of illness - and that keeps the "mental" in front of the name. Who goes around talking about dental illness, or gastrointestinal illness?
...Hey, actually, there's a tactic for me next time one of the unsupportive coworkers gets sick. *shifty look* Just got moved to a new team so I hope not to get the opportunity, but if it does...
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branchandroot
(no subject)
Date: 2011-01-30 07:29 pm (UTC)"Mental health parity" was included in the health care reform act. As of this year, mental health services are covered by insurance on an equal basis. For me at least, this means psychologist and psychiatrist visits are still considered specialist visits with a higher copay but they can't limit the reasons I go to see those doctors. Previously, I could only get reimbursed for some codes when it came to the psychiatrist; medication adjustment was the big one, don't remember the full details. (My copays for my psych medications are also lower but I have a feeling that's a different animal.)
On another subject, please don't compare the level of torment one mentally ill person goes through to another. Just as people have different physical pain tolerances, different things cause different people to break and to do it to different degrees. There are also different ways to suffer, just as a toothache's different from a cramp. Having a form of bipolar disorder, for me, tends to hurt or numb me. When the insomnia messes with my sleep cycle, though, not being sure what memories happened in a dream is terrifying. On a bigger scale, lumping together the effects of all brain-centric illnesses is painting with a very wide brush.
Likewise, labeling Jared Loughner as undoubtedly mentally ill (which I assume he is, considering how out of touch with reality he seems to have been) and going no further does a disservice. There are people out there who believe that mentally ill equals potentially violent, when the vast majority of people who have mental illnesses are not a physical threat to anyone except perhaps themselves. Blurring the categories contributes to the fear born out of ignorance that keeps mental illness a second class form of illness - and that keeps the "mental" in front of the name. Who goes around talking about dental illness, or gastrointestinal illness?
...Hey, actually, there's a tactic for me next time one of the unsupportive coworkers gets sick. *shifty look* Just got moved to a new team so I hope not to get the opportunity, but if it does...